Thursday, March 30, 2006

400 points in 400 days? How about 400 points in one game?

I just played a 10 minute blitz game on ICC and my rating went from 1500+ to 1900+


Now there's a sweet deal if you ask me :-)

Ofcourse this is only due to the fact that it was the very first game i played (and won) and probably having to do with that RD stuff and all, thus giving me a one time boost. But it's cool nonetheless :-)

I told y'all i was gonna kick some ass ;-)

Woohoo! I got another free month at ICC :-)

As a former "free" member of Chess21 which due to a hacker attack moved to ICC and get some kind of joint venture thing going, i was entitled to atleast a free month's play at ICC. Former "paying" members get more advantages ofcourse :-(

Anyway, i just installed the software and i am ready to kick some ass ;-)
It will probably interfere with my training for the coming month, since i want to take advantage of the free month's play. Now let's see which titled player i can get to play this time ;-)

I wonder if i also get a similar deal over at Playchess, since there was also talk of a joint venture with them. I'll guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Interested to see how a master trains?

In an earlier post i mentioned i started playing games against a National Master. Now, that same National Master is putting his training on display. And for those who are interested to see how a master trains, i suggest you start following his posts @ chesstrainingblog.com. And for those of you (especially Knights Errant members) that missed or overlook my previous post, you might want to place me somewhere else on your sidebar since i am no longer a Knight.

P.S. In the games i'm playing against the National Master, the National Master is moving :-)
In the post i refered to above, i mentioned i was afraid i was going to win the games due to him not making a move because he's a busy guy. I hope this proves i'm wrong, cause i really want to play atleast one complete game against him...

Friday, March 24, 2006

I'm giving up knighthood

After having questioned my knighthood for quite some time now, i have come to decide i am giving up on it. Since i am doing nothing really de la Maza like, as in circlish, concentric squarish things and all that, i really do not see much of a reason for me to stay on. Sure i am on a quest to try and significantly improve my chess game, but not through de la Maza's exact method's. Now, it is not like i think that the Knights aren't cool or anything, and that being part of it isn't cool, cause they are cool, and being part of it is cool. In fact i think they are a very unique kind of band. And what really makes them unique, is their shared de la Maza religion/belief, and being on their so-called knightly quests, following in the footsteps of de la Maza to become eventual Knights Errant hall of famers (can't think of any other way to describe it). And even though i might make use of some of de la Maza's methods (in time and on my own pace), i really do not feel i am much of an addition to the Knights Errant. So i've come to make this decision.

The Knight(side)bar will remain on my blog and i will keep it up to date and i will be keeping track of all your posts as i always did (nothing will change for that matter), and i would appreciate remaining on your sidebars as well :-)

Anyway, i would like to wish you all the best the best on your knightly quests, and let us toast to the improvement of our beloved game ;-)

Finished tactics unit 27 (module 1)


...

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

It's on!

The games against USCF National Master Jeff Ashton have begun. Something tells me i am going to win both games :-)
How? Well, i hope i am wrong, but he started a bunch of games in which his challengers made their moves and he never made his. Thus forfeiting them on time. And because of that, i feel it's highly likely that the same thing will happen in our games.
He's probably a busy guy (which is understandable in his position), but i do hope to play a complete game (or two) against him...
By the way, all is still equal in my games vs the Grandmaster :-)
Though i am more happy with my white game then with my black game. Have a look at the current positions. In the first diagram i'm playing white. In the second one i'm playing black (duh). Please, do not comment about possible lines and/or continuations.

Black to move.

White to move.

Sunday, March 19, 2006

About to play my second USCF National Master (turn-based)

After coming across chesstrainingblog.com and commenting on some of the posts, i got in touch with it's author Jeffrey Ashton. Who happens to be a USCF National Master. After exchanging some emails, i got him to sign up on ChessHere so we could play some games. He will be the second USCF National Master i get to play over the Internet. The first USCF National Master i played against was Michael Aigner a.k.a. "fpawn". Unfortunatly, the games we played were cut short, no thanks to a certain webmaster (click to replay the games)... Anyway, i am really looking forward to play against Jeffrey Ashton, and add him as another titled player on my list of titled players i've played :-)
I'll keep y'all posted.

Friday, March 17, 2006

Finished tactics unit 26 (module 1)


Felt i needed to re-edit some older posts, so don't pay attention to them if they show up on whatever type of RSS feed reader you use, and when you allready seen them.

Saturday, March 11, 2006

Knight (me) vs Knight (generalkaia) Challenge 2-0

Again, it wasn't much of a game (kaia forfeited on time once more), so i will only show you the litlle notation and a diagram of the final position (just as i did with my previous game against kaia).

[Event "m1136856424"]
[Site "net-chess.com"]
[Date "2006.01.10"]
[Round "1"]
[White "cthigpen"]
[Black "dutchdefence"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B00"]
[WhiteElo "1500"]
[BlackElo "1500"]
[EventType "game (corr)"]

1. e4 b6 2. d4 Bb7 3. Nc3 e6 4. Nf3 Bb4 5. Bd3 Nf6 Reaching the following position after white (kaia) forfeits on time.


0-1

Friday, March 10, 2006

Time for a change...

I am changing the looks of my blog again, so bare with me. Everybody will be back on the sidebar eventually...

Thursday, March 09, 2006

Finished tactics unit 25 (module 1)


...

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Proof of improvement? Let's take a look at the evidence. Exhibit #1: All the right moves.

After having having juggled with the idea of adding a d-pawn opening to my repertoire in my head for quite a long time, and coming across one of my liking today (by accident), i finally decided to go ahead and add one.
Now, i went over the Queens Gambit accepted as well as declined, to Queens Pawn's games and Torre attack's, but they just didn't touch me, you know? There's this something i need to feel when i choose an opening. Then it finally hit me. The Catalan. I came across it by accident and i felt this something :-)
But to make a long story short, i decided to try it out right away after having quickly gone over 3 or so games (click to replay the games). The first game is annotated and also the one in which i put most of the little mental energy i had left (cause i am soooo tired lately), causing me to play a whoooole lot less sharp in the other 2 games. Luckely, my opponents in those 2 weren't very sharp themselves :-)
Now, the reason for the title of this post (specificly the "all the right moves" part), is because i managed to play 10 consecutive book moves in the first game without having any theoratical knowledge of the opening at all. To some of you that might not seem like a big of a deal. But to me it is, since i am not doing any opening study at all. But somehow, by applying the basics and this simplistic approach (action/reaction) i mentioned a few posts ago, i feel i start to develop a feel for (atleast) the opening when i play, so... Proof of improvement?

Saturday, March 04, 2006

Another example of viewing the whole board (from one of my own games)

I thought the following game would make a nice example of viewing the whole board (a subject i have been watching on the Andrew Martin ChessBase DVD). Particularly near the end, when i switch from one side to the other. It is a game i played against a 1600+ USCF rated player whom i have known for quite some time now. Anyway, if you're interested in the game, then click the link. The finish is pretty nice if i say so myself.

BTW, i have adjusted the board colors. I found that the previous colors didn't really go easy on the eyes. I find that the current colors do. Let me know what you think.

(click to replay the game)

Knight (me) vs Knight (generalkaia) Challenge 1-0

Since it wasn't much of a game (generalkaia forfeited on time), i decided not to take the trouble to post a replayable game. Instead, i give you the little moves made, and a diagram of the final position.

1.b2-b3 e7-e5 2.Lc1-b2 Pb8-c6 3.e2-e3


1-0

Friday, March 03, 2006

Question...

Does being good at mathematics really make a difference when it comes to playing chess? Will being good at it improve your game more then someone who's not good at it? Cause to tell you the truth, i hated it (and sucked at it because of that). Just wondering...

Test results are looking promising :-)

[ PICTURE: Kasparov ]
You're Garry Kasparov! The highest rated player of

all time, you were the 13th World Champion at

22, but broke away from FIDE to start your

own chess organisation. Now no-one is sure

who's World Champion any more, but it's

probably you. Or Kramnik. No, you. OK, maybe

Anand. Or Shirov. But you have better PR than

those guys.


Which Chess World Champion Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

Andrew Martin and The Basics of Winning Chess Middlegame Tips 1. View the whole board

It has been a while since i posted about the Andrew Martin ChessBase DVD i am watching, which is due to always having limited time to spend on studying chess, which in turn causes you to choose what to do, and when to do it everytime. Anyway, i have now reached the middlegame section, in which Andrew Martin hands out tips on the middlegame. Now, the middlegame section consists of 3 examples that show the importance of viewing the whole board. Let us start with example one.

Example one


In example one Andrew Martin tells you, that as a coach, he encounters a lot of players who concentrate too much on one specific area of the board. And that because of that, they miss oppurtunities that have arisen elsewhere on the board. Now, take a look at the above position and try to find out what the best continuation is. It is black to move. You can find the solutions to the examples at the end of this post. But take some time and try to figure it out for yourself first. You might improve your game with it :-)

Example two


Example two is from an actual game between Karpov (white) and Taimanov (black) played in 1977, which goes to show you it takes a tremendous vision of the whole board to come up with something like Taimanov did. Once again, take some time and try to figure it out for yourself. It's black to move.

Now, the third and final example is in fact a complete game in which white displays tremendous board vision throughout the entire game (click to replay). To end this middlegame section, Andrew Martin leaves you with a usefull exercise and a tip, which he also recommends to all of his students. The exercise is, that before the start of a game, you should run your eyes along the perimiters of the board a few times, in order to stimulate your board vision. And the tip is, that before the start of a game you could try and splash some cold water on your eyebrows, which keep the eyes and brains fresh.

Solution to example one.
Solution to example two.